26 new Covid-19 cases linked to bus interchange clusters, bringing total to 276

• There were 276 Covid-19 cases linked to eight bus interchanges as of Aug 31
• Two new clusters linked to individuals were identified
• The Bugis Junction cluster has grown to 222 cases with 11 new cases 
• The number of patients under intensive care has remained constant at five
• There are 19 patients in serious condition and in need of oxygen support, similar to the day before

SINGAPORE — A total of 26 new Covid-19 cases were traced to six bus interchange clusters, data from the Ministry of Health (MOH) showed on Tuesday (Aug 31).

It was also the first time since last Wednesday that no bus interchanges were identified as a new Covid-19 cluster.

Two new clusters with seven cases between them were linked to individuals, MOH said in its nightly update on the coronavirus situation.

The cluster at Boon Lay Bus Interchange had 13 new cases added, bringing the tally there to 50 cases.

Seven more were added to the cluster at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange, the largest among the various interchanges with 85 cases now.

Jurong East and Tampines bus interchanges had two new cases each, bringing the total number of cases there to 26 and 20 respectively.

The one at Bishan now has 27 cases and Punggol has 30 after they each had one new case added.

Clementi and Sengkang bus interchanges had no new cases.

In all, there were 276 cases linked to the eight bus interchanges.

SERIOUSLY ILL

Data from MOH showed that the number of patients under intensive care has remained constant at five since Aug 30.

There are 19 patients who are in serious condition and need oxygen support to help them breathe, similar to the day before.

Among these 19 with serious illness and the five under intensive care, eight are fully vaccinated.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 15 are patients aged above 60. Eight are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated.

MOH stressed that there is continuing evidence that “almost all fully vaccinated individuals do not suffer serious disease when infected unless they had underlying medical conditions that made them more susceptible”.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated patients who became severely ill or died is 8.3 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 1.2 per cent.

There are 463 Covid-19 patients who are hospitalised as of Tuesday.

70 ACTIVE CLUSTERS

With the formation of two new clusters, there are now 70 active Covid-19 clusters here, each having between three and 1,155 cases.

Of note, the Bugis Junction cluster has grown to 222 cases with 11 more added.

In all, there were 161 new cases recorded on Tuesday.

• Locally transmitted cases numbered 156 — highest since July 22, when 162 were reported

• Cases with no known sources of infection: 79

• Those linked to confirmed cases: 77. Of these, 48 had already been quarantined and 29 were detected through surveillance testing

• Five were imported cases — three were detected on arrival and two developed the illness while in isolation

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has shot up from 290 in the week before to 771 in the past week.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has almost doubled from 105 in the week before to 198 in the past week.

The seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 81.9 and 28.3 respectively.

Singapore has recorded a total of 67,620 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.

VACCINATIONS

As of Aug 30, 80 per cent of the population had completed their full regimen or received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and 83 per cent had received at least one dose.

For other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing such as Sinovac, 167,242 doses had been administered as of Aug 30, covering 85,688 individuals.